Protecting the wells

Georgia’s decision to restrict new aquifer pumping to protect South Carolina’s wells from the immediate threat of saltwater has met measured approval from South Carolina.

“The fact is that it’s a step. And in very general terms, it’s a positive step,” said Dean Moss, chairman of the S.C. Governor’s Savannah River Committee.

“Will it have an immediate impact on the over drafting? No,” he said. “But it’s a good step, and it shows that (Georgia) is thinking about it and working on it.”

On Monday the Georgia Environmental Protection Division announced the current moratorium on withdrawals from the Upper Floridan aquifer in Chatham, Liberty and Bryan counties and a portion of Effingham County now extends to new withdrawals from the lower Floridan aquifer.

“We’ve been pushing for that forever,” said Rep. Bill Herbkersman, R-Bluffton.

The problem of over pumping from the Floridan Aquifer has been tied to saltwater intruding into the freshwater supply and contaminating drinking water wells in the Hilton Head area. If over pumping doesn’t stop, the problem will worsen substantially and claim more wells, with South Carolina feeling the effects decades before Georgia.

Georgia’s announcement comes as officials there prepare a proposal to send to Moss and others in South Carolina by this summer to initiate a strategy to reduce pumping. Georgia consumers, spanning industry and municipal users, are expected to assume the bulk of the reductions.

Herbkersman predicted it would take another “event” to force leaders to take action.

“The problem is for there to be enough rallying around it, there needs to be an event where, for example, when Hilton Head found intrusion, it was an event where they actually made people aware of what was happening,” said the S.C. legislator.

Several Hilton Head wells have already been lost to saltwater intrusion and others in the town and local community remain jeopardized.

EPD based Monday’s new moratorium on studies conducted with the U.S. Geological Survey that showed the two parts of the underground freshwater supplies are connected. The move means new users will have to tap surface water sources, such as the Savannah River, find a new aquifer or rely on the desalination of seawater.

“Taking from the river and filtering that for some for the industries has been much more costly, but it’s really the right thing to do,” said Herbkersman.

In 2006 Georgia placed a moratorium on new wells in the Upper Floridan aquifer and capped all withdrawals at 2004 levels. In 2008, the volume pumped from the aquifer was reduced by 5 million gallons a day, with International Paper and the city of Savannah agreeing to a significant portion of the reduction.

DHEC spokesman Mark Plowden on Friday said there are no permits pending before the South Carolina agency to withdraw from the Floridan Aquifer.

Who should pay?

Over burdening the aquifer concerns Aaron Crosby, who has lived on Daufuskie for eight years and helped form the Daufuskie Island Council.

Estimates for how long the eight-square-mile island has until wells become tainted range from 10 years to 50.

When it happens, Crosby said the island might have to install an underwater pipeline to connect to a mainland site. Or Daufuskie may need a new well and water treatment plant, similar to Hilton Head’s. In either case, he said the island would need a new distribution system.

“Why should Daufuskie have to pay for the environmental damage caused by others?” he said in an email. “Shouldn’t it be up to those who cause the problem to fix it?”